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November 2013

PRINCIPIA DISCORDIA

ProjectB presents Principia Discordia, the second solo show at the gallery of the young British Artist
Hugo Wilson.

The works on show will altogether express a rather inclusive line of inquiry on the human need to manifest a power greater than itself in ideas, organisations, myths, deities and objects.

His artistic practice is a crossroads in between drawings, sculpture, installation and oil painting. It investigates the complicated history of art’s relationship with religion, science and the politics of Church and State.

“It seems that through out history, groups of people have in common the need to make a symbol or an object more powerful than what it is. These attempts to make structure against the unknown or chaos through works of art are fascinating to me.” HW

PRINCIPIA DISCORDIA

Hugo Wilson, is clearly affected by history and he creates this show in an attempt to resolve his underlying unease at the genres of art that he is constantly drawn to, but lack a relationship with contemporary discourse.

“Whether it is a cave painting or an altar it is actually the same kind of human decision that makes the symbols and the idea that many of the symbols of faith and trophy have become unseen or entirely devoid of importance through over saturation, is interesting to me. “ HW

This complex approach has lead Hugo Wilson to creates works that are simultaneously close to the genre that they are questioning, and with the subject entirely removed, forcing the observer to put the work into a preconceived category, and to question the governing factors that established these categories in the first place.

In Chassis, he is looking at the genre of agricultural or pastoral works of art, mainly in the English 18th century tradition. The subject is reduced to its base material of muscle, bone and sinew but kept in the context of a celebrated trophy. With the terracotta works, Hugo examines pulpits and bas-reliefs of forgotten myths and battle scenes partially removing the obvious narrative sections, making the thread of the original story impossible to pick up.

He creates a free narrative, open to interpretation, and unmistakably a fundamental reflection on the importance of symbols. He nevertheless achieves a difficult point of equilibrium between contemporary practice and the tradition of making a work of art trough the artistic gesture of transformation.

“I like the idea of these paintings being very grand and technically difficult, because the aesthetics of these works are a massive part of how the subject and ones relation to it remain unquestioned.” HW